I, the Fatman, is back for another edition of LIKED and DISLIKED.
Reminder that we go LIVE on Twitch every Tuesday night (link below). You can hear us every Saturday morning at 8AM EST wherever you get your favorite podcasts. So let’s get into what I LIKED and DISLIKED from the 10/12/22 episode of AEW Dynamite from the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
LIKED: CROWD REACTION
This was AEW’s debut in Canada and the crowd was WHITE HOT all night long. This isn’t a surprise since crowds in Canada (Toronto specifically) almost always have that kind of reaction. If you have been reading this article for the past several weeks you know that I have been super critical of AEW. This show was their best show in weeks and the crowd has a ton to do with that. HOWEVER, crowd response doesn’t fit nonsensical booking (I’ll get into that later).
LIKE: FIRST ROUND EXITS
The show opens with Christian Cage getting interviewed by a debuting Renee Paquette. Cage mentions how he is not only the face of Toronto, but of all of Canada. He guarantees a Luchasaurus victory like it’s a guarantee that the Maple Leafs will lose in the first round. During the match, Cage was on commentary and also mentioned the Blue Jays blowing a lead in Game 2 of the ALWC Series. The match between Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy was GREAT. Jungle Boy is so great and Saurus gave Jungle Boy just enough offense to make it believable. Saurus gets the win due to a distraction by Cage. That was the right call. It continues the story until Cage gets healthy. If I have one nit-pick it would be the stupid table spot. They did it right in front of the ref and the ref is like “OH WELL”. Cage even said on commentary that should be a DQ (HE’S 100% RIGHT). This isn’t the only time on this show where the refs just seem incompetent.
LIKED: MAKING STAKES
Ethan Page and Stokely Hathaway are backstage with Renee when Private Party and Matt Hardy roll up. This sets up a match on Rampage between Ethan Page and Kassidy. If Kassidy wins, Private Party are free from their contract with the Firm. If Page wins, Hardy is under contract with the Firm. It brings stakes to a match on Rampage other than “Midcard Champion defends title against jobber”. It’s a small story but baby steps I guess.
DISLIKED: WARJOE
QT Marshall and Nick Comoroto get squashed by WarJoe? (Wardlow and Samoa Joe). That’s…a really dumb name. They were trying WAY TOO HARD on trying to get that over. The said the name like 100 times like they are trying to conjure up the Candyman. The match was actually want it needed to be. A dominate win for *rolls eyes* WARJOE.
The post match is where the Embassy come down. They are pissed that *sighs heavily* WARJOE got into their business on Rampage. They wonder where FTR are. That (predictable) brings out FTR and it leads to…Shawn Spears coming back as a face? So he lives near Toronto so he is going to be at the shows. Then he will most likely disappear for several more months till they are in Eastern Canada again. ALSO why is this how we get the “FTR cameo” for weeks on Dynamite? LET YOUR BEST TAG TEAM WRESTLE ON YOUR BIGGEST WEEKLY SHOW YOU COWARDS.
DISLIKED: ROCK BARELY BEAT SCISSORS
Swerve Strickland v. Billy Gunn was definitely a match that happened on a weekly wrestling TV show in 2022. Why Swerve had to use the ropes on a near 59 year old Billy Gunn (who Swerve worked on his leg the WHOLE match) in a weekly TV match in 2022 was even more head scratching. Giving Gunn offense isn’t the problem. You could have had Swerve win clean. I think they were doing the whole “Gunn helps the Acclaimed win the tag titles so I cheated to beat Gunn” story. Wouldn’t you want Keith Lee to beat down Gunn? That would be advancing the story better. Not make Swerve look “weak” against a near 59 yr old man.
After the match, Smart Mark Sterling comes out with Ultimo-Jobber Tony Nese. Sterling says that he now owns the rights to the “Scissor Me” catchphrase. I’m indifferent about this. Part of me is like “It puts heat on Sterling and the crowd will want to SCREAM IT when the Acclaimed is out there and they can’t. It will make the ‘Scissor Me’ gimmick even more over”. Another part of me is like “You are taking away the ONE THING that makes the Acclaimed SUPER OVER and the crowd is going to scream it anyways so by bother”. We’ll have to wait and see.
DISLIKED: THE CONTINUING NONSENICAL BOOKING OF MJF
MJF does an interview with Alex Marvez. Stokely interrupts which pisses off MJF. MJF says that he is pissed that he got involved last week (which is what he was hired to do?). He told Stokely to get out of his shot. MJF says that he doesn’t even know if he was going to shake Wheeler Yuta’s hand last week. He says that he has a dark past with William Regal and he’s not scared to tell the story (which is doesn’t). He says that he learned that nice guys finish last and he’s force to be the bad guy (by who?). He says that he doesn’t like himself either but “tough shit” because he’s a generational talent.
UM…WHAT? He hires guys to have his back but then gets pissed that they have his back. He suddenly has a “dark past” with Regal? He’s only been feuding with the Blackpool Combat Club since he’s been back and it’s NOW coming up? He’s not afraid to tell the story but doesn’t go into ANY details about it. Why go to shake Yuta’s hand then? He’s “force” to be a bad guy by…??? I…I just…UGH. NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!!! I keep saying this with the MJF segments in these articles and I’m going to say it again…”WHAT ARE YOU DOING”????????????
LIKED: I’M A MAN DAMMIT
Mox calls Page a kid again and Page goes off on how he is a man. Page just cut the BEST PROMO OF THIS CAREER. I can’t do this promo justice. Go out of your way to find this. It was AWESOME. That is how you build a World Title match. Also, an added like to MJF watching this while eating popcorn. THAT is what you should be doing with MJF every week. Just watch Mox and whoever his challenge is beating the SHIT out of each other while he eats popcorn. It fits his character PERFECTLY. Not some tweener who hates himself.
LIKED & DISLIKED: ROH (MORE LIKE WCW)
Jericho defending the ROH World Title against Daniel Bryanson was GREAT. I think it was their best match out of the three that they recently have had. The crowd was a HUGE part of that. It was a classic ROH Title match with a STUPID (!!!) WCW swerve in the finish. The ref is bumped and Jericho goes to hit Danielson with the ROH Title. Daniel Garcia comes down and takes the title out of Jericho’s hands. Danielson hits the running knee but Garcia hits Danielson with the title and Jericho gets the win. Weeks of build to turn Garcia face (WHICH THE CROWD WAS SO READY FOR), has a match with Danielson against Jericho and Guevara (where Jericho hits him in the head with the ROH Title), only to swerve Danielson out of the ROH Title and he has been with Jericho the whole time? WHAT?? Why is it that when someone gets over as a face, Tony Khan nerfs it? He did it with Jamie Hayter and he just did it with Garcia! STOP THE BULLSHIT!!
DISLIKED: “STEALING” AN OPPORTUNITY
Nyla Rose is backstage with the TBS Championship. Spoiler: She is NOT the TBS Champion. She says that possession is 9 tenths of the law. Anna Jay shows up and wants a shot at the TBS Championship. Huh? So they are really doing a TBS Title match between two workers who aren’t the TBS Champion? Maybe Jade Cargill is injured or on vacation or something. I think they didn’t want to do the whole “interim” gimmick again (THANK FUCKING GOD). So it keeps the title on the show I guess?
LIKED: WOMEN’S REVOLUTION 2.0
The tag match between Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida v. Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter was actually really good. That’s really all I can say about. Shida wins to get momentum going into her match with Toni Storm. Their “Women’s Revolution” has been just good tag match. I bet if Saraya was there, it would have somehow ended with her in the ring screaming “THIS IS MY HOUSE” and NOT on our (Interim) Women’s Champion.
LIKED: ORANGE GOLD
PAC v Orange Cassidy was not surprisingly GREAT. These two can’t have a bad match. Orange Cassidy winning his first singles title was a good moment. I’m happy for him. He has worked his ass off and deserves it. Just like the opening match, if I had one nit-pick…THE REF. Friend of the show Bryce Remsburg…I’m not made, I’m just disappointed. PAC and Cassidy were outside the ring for like 5 minutes, then you do a 10 count spot? UGH. YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT MAN. That’s the only blimp on a great match.
If you agree or disagree, please leave a comment.
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